Members: Zachary Welsh, Keona May, Taylor Boris, Maddie Simpson, Sonia Joshi
Zachary: There’s a quote that I really liked where Thomson said “feminists, businesswomen, Asians, Northerners, and black professionals are oftentimes stereotyped as highly competent an so they are often envied, while on the other hand housewives, disabled people, blind people, elderly people, and the so-called retarded people warm and having low competence, thus they were pitied.” I think that’s an important discussion point because stereotypes are a problem even to this day so I think it’s important to bring those to light and discuss those.
Sonia: Stereotypes exist but that doesn’t mean they should exist.
Keona: I agree with that too because I feel like while stereotypes might have an ounce of truth to them, it’s important to look into them and see what’s actually true.
Taylor: Stereotypes are very narrowing. It’s interesting how the article talks about feminism and race and how they connect to disability.
Maddie: So…. I found that admission that feminist theory tends to focus only on reproductive disability to be really interesting. Focusing on reproductive rights and advocating for reproductive equality isn’t all feminism and disability have to promote, and I like how this article focuses on that!
Sonia: It’s important to factor everything when trying to understand individuals.
Keona: We talked about how there’s not only one way to be an activist and in some way everyone is an activist to a certain extent and i think it’s interesting that this is coming up in this course. But yeah, it’s important to look at all factors when knowing someone instead of just the stereotypes.
Sonia: I liked what maddie said and I think it’s important to take into account that each community will have their own issues that may not be part of the whole, but that doesn’t make them unimportant.
Sonia: On page 264, there’s a bit where she talks about a poster with a girl in a wheelchair and I feel like that’s really alarming to see that they were pushing stuff like that on a large scale and it’s creepy that their wellness cards say stuff like “snap out of it.”
Keona: We shouldn’t even look at disabilities as something that needs to be cured. It’s not like disabilities are a disease so we shouldnt see them as one.
Maddie: The article talks directly about the feminist disability community focuses on the broad undersztanding of disability that focuses on marginalizing and stereotyping bodies. I think this broad understanding is both recognizing the entire community, but loses highlighting what is important in each aspect of the community.
Sonia: It’s odd that the sexualized pictures of the athlete don’t have any reference to her disability. And i think it’s odd because she said it’s hard for someone disabled to feel sexual
Keona: There’s a quote about how women have different identities and I think it’s interesting how women have to balance all of these identities.
